Notes from Nancy

What you are about to read will explain a ton, save us time, and will include some free advice. It’s a lotta info….

I don’t want to overwhelm you and we don’t book more than 1 consult at a time. This will provide a sense of what the process will look like should we elect to go the distance with me as your Personal Trainer, and probable Inside Access Point Person to a TON of new VO Casting that I’m doing on line and in person to help cast my students via agents all over the world.

I work with tons of working pros, beginners, and everyone in between with refining their VO skills and ascertaining personal branding. As the only former Agent out there teaching this material, the only one who has also written, produced, and cast thousands of projects, this course of study offers uniquely tailored advice on the particular likes and dislikes, needs and tools required by the professionals you’re soon to be pursuing for job access (Agents, Producers, Casting, casting thru me, yadda yadda.)

Because the days of needing to have some kind of special VOICE (deep/raspy/sexy/ bold/sunny) are gone, because ad agencies are really looking for any and every kind of sound out there that can connect with the consumer, I firmly believe that anyone who has enough acting skills under their belt to tout a marketing tool called a “head shot,” or any singer out there with the skills to be pursuing work in that area, ought to also have the VO skills and marketing tool called a Voice Over Demo. Voice Over is simply another arena in which you folks can get a job, so you ought to have the skills and the tool just in case the opportunity comes up for you by default or design. Who knows – VO could wind up becoming a big piece of your acting income’s pie chart – maybe it will only prove profitable in bits and pieces…but it is wise to have it in your acting bag of tricks.

And if you’re not coming from an acting background, DON’T FRET. This stuff is TOTALLY TEACHABLE.

I teach the acting that is necessary to service advertising, help you folks recognize the patterns in which ad copy is written (kinda like the Stanley Kaplan approach to VO), and — perhaps most importantly — help you better understand how casting directors and agents perceive your personal style.

By the way – this is not one of those VO classes that offers acting exercises to people who already know how to act.

Because I currently do a ton of casting with agents here and in other markets, because I used to be an agent and department head myself, I know and experience every day how much MORE there is to booking these auditions than just good solid acting.

I believe I am now one of the only coaches in town who can give my students access to current auditions even if they have not yet procured VO representation – this is pretty cool – very new – and loads of fun.

These days, a VO talent MUST learn how to work their own HOME EQUIPMENT, how to direct yourself on your own auditions that I will help you procure from your own home system, how to work mic technique, how to market yourself…all of that and so much more.

The acting is an important foundation, and if you need help in that arena, I can get you where you need to be quickly on that matter. But there is so so much more for us to work on beyond acting if you are to make the money at this that is totally out there for the taking in a way that has never been possible before.

Once we are confident your audition skills are competitive and I have a very specific take on your brand, I will produce/direct a demo that reflects these skills & unique style ($1,900.) I will also help you “brand” the graphic packaging/web design (prices vary depending on project size.)

Nobody (not even I) can tell whether or not you are a “natural” until we find out how well you interpret copy.

That takes more than a few privates, and certainly more than a brief conversation.

And if it turns out to be harder than you had guessed (maybe it will, maybe it won’t), I can teach you the skills that will help you get your performances where they need to be.

It would be irresponsible to guess in advance just how many privates it will take someone to learn the skills – my curriculum is 15 chapters long, so the average person needs about 15 privates before they are prepared to have me make them a demo.

(That said, on occasion, some rare talents fly through my 15 chapter curriculum in many fewer than 15+ lessons. As it is impossible to determine the rate at which a person will learn, I do not commit people to pre-determined packs of privates in advance. One lesson at a time.)

You have to trust that I will get you to your goal as expediently as possible – it serves us both to work hard and fast and yet we both must be patient with whatever pace your particular learning process requires.

After demo production, there is at least one necessary post-demo private wherein I advise you on how to proceed with submitting to agents, provide an inside list of agents to whom you ought to submit, tailor your letters to those agents, discuss artwork branding, etc.

Beyond that, most folks come in either once every other week at the most or once every six weeks at the least to keep their chops up until/during/after work opportunities start to come around. As I mentioned, I become a bit of a career coach in this endeavor, so it is wise to check in every now and then for an update as the business changes constantly and I get new casting opportunities in now REGULARLY.

This audio portrait we paint of you is an important one, and it must be done properly so to last you for as long as a couple of years. You must have a finished presentation on yourself (that means artwork, website) in order to pursue representation properly and competitively, and if you are already repped by an agent and somehow got that representation without having presented them with a demo CD/web site, you will have to have one produced for you eventually. Everyone must have one – even celebrities – as the CD is a critical tool used by the agents to procure work for you, introduce you to casting people, etc.

The goal is to help agents and buyers see what is unique about your personal style (beyond your pitch, beyond natural dialect) so they can know what you are likeliest to book, thus helping you help them help you, etc.

Making money in this area of performance is more determined by one’s ability to interpret copy than by the genetic sound of the voice.

And speaking of making money: I have some major casting avenues that allow me to put real auditions in front of many people who have gone thru the full course of study with me into demo, which is great (more on that when we chat.)

Every week, my students book commercial work from auditions I sent to them from various sources. I even cast 26 characters for an animated series, and most of the roles went to my students!

Turning that genetic gift into something that makes you money is all about learning how to think like the folks at the ad agency are thinking, break down ad strategy, and ultimately, with solid acting skills, provide an audition that shows you can be of service to their needs.

That is what we do in here – learn the patterns of how these ad agency writers think. Well, that plus everything I said about branding, plus learning the business of the business, protocol, etc.

I am typically booked up about 3 weeks in advance; emailing a request for a time slot well in advance is advised.

Also let me know if you were interested in being put on the Wait List – many cancellations crop up each week that afford eager and available people to get in much earlier than we might anticipate!